Customers are often unable to determine the proper postage required for an item being mailed, whether through a government-based organization (such as the US Postal Service) or a private messenger company (such as the United Parcel Service). Indeed, it is possible for an individual to mail an item with insufficient postage, causing inconvenience and expense for both the customer and the postal entity. Furthermore, government-associated postage rate hikes have become more frequent, resulting in the need to purchase small denominations (e.g., one-, two-, or three-cent) stamps to use with all previously-purchased first class stamps (although this situation has been somewhat ameliorated with the introduction of the first-class “forever” stamp). Inasmuch as postage fees tend to be a function of the weight of the item to be mailed (regardless of delivery service), often a customer must first have the item weighed, and then affix the proper amount of postage. Indeed, even the size and shape of items being mailed are becoming factors in determining the necessary postage. The US Postal Service does offer a Priority Mail Flat Rate Box, although the convenience comes at higher cost to the consumer than if the item were actually weighed. In the event that the postage is insufficient, or if the destination address is “undeliverable”, a return address is required to re-route the item to the originator. However, since the return address itself is not routinely verified (or may even be omitted), some of these items will not be able to be returned to the original sender.
No matter how careful an individual may be when attempting to estimate the proper postage, the US Postal Service remains obligated to weigh each item and confirm that a sufficient amount of postage is affixed, commensurate with the desired class of delivery service, including any requested enhanced services (e.g., insurance, certified delivery and the like). Subsequently, each item must be oriented, aligned, sorted and routed. In order to avoid repetitive stress injuries, postal employees are limited in how much time they may spend on such tasks, for example, typing delivery point barcodes. There has heretofore been no way to avoid the need for these repetitive tasks to be performed on each piece of mail. Further, tracing mailpieces as they pass through the postal system is useful for service monitoring, but is very labor intensive; retrospective tracing for forensic purposes is virtually impossible.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,497,140 issued to J. R. Tuttle on Mar. 5, 1996 discloses an electrically-powered postage stamp (or shipping label) which includes a radio frequency identification (RFID) device and system mounted between the opposing major surfaces of the stamp. The RFID device and system includes an integrated circuit transceiver chip which is connected to and powered by a thin flat battery cell. The transceiver chip is operated in association with a thin RF antenna, all of which are mounted in a side-by-side relationship on a thin base support layer of the stamp/label. These thin, flat components are mounted in an essentially two-dimensional planar configuration that is well-suited for incorporation into the conventional planar structure of a postage stamp or mailing label. As disclosed therein, the Tuttle RFID system is used to provide tracking information from dispatch to delivery. The Tuttle system uses an “active” RFID device, requiring each stamp/label to include batteries (albeit relatively small, planar batteries). Further, no system for determining postage or using the Tuttle system for customer billing of postage is disclosed or suggested.
A method and apparatus for providing postal user identification and billing is disclosed in US Patent Application Publication 2003/0225711, authorized by M. Paping and published on Dec. 4, 2003 (hereinafter “Paping”). As described therein, a franking module is provided that allows a postal customer to apply “unique indicia” to an item of mail for authorizing postal transactions. The indicia does not include postage, and the franking module has no capability of storing and accounting for postage. The identification data represented by the indicia includes a customer account number that is registered with the postal service for authorization and billing. The indicia is read and the postage value calculated by a post office processor remote from the franking module, with the amount of postage thereafter debited to the customer's account when the mail item clears the initial processing. The Paping method and apparatus is limited inasmuch as the franking module is required to be purchased by a customer in the first instance, in much the same style as a postage meter. Moreover, once the Paping system is used for postage billing, there is no further interaction with the mailpiece and no system to provide the tracking thereof.
US Patent Application Publication 2005/0116047, published to Binh T. Lu et al. on Jun. 2, 2005 (hereinafter “Lu”), discloses a ‘trackable’ postage stamp including a passive tracking device (usually a passive RFID tag) including stamp identification (ID) information. In the Lu et al. arrangement, the stamp ID information is stored in a centralized database in association with specific information about the item being mailed (for example, a “rare” book with an insurance value of $1500 is being sent from Bookstore A to Buyer B, mailed on Dec. 12, 2012). The stamp can therefore be interrogated anywhere along its delivery path to provide the sender (and perhaps the receiver) current information regarding the mail's location. While the use of a passive RFID tag is considered to be an advance in the art in terms of providing mailpiece tracking, the Lu arrangement does not suggest the inclusion of any type of billing arrangement with the trackable stamp. US Patent Application Publication 2005/0216319, published to G. C. Rebin on Sep. 29, 2005 discloses a similar “retail stamp with tracking” arrangement utilizing passive RFID tags. Again, no discussion of incorporating customer billing into the tracking mechanism is disclosed or suggested by Rebin.
Thus, a need remains in the art for an automated postage billing and tracking system that allows for selection of delivery service class and enhanced services (if any), while eliminating the need for a customer to know/have available the proper postage prior to mailing an item.